Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea Preview

October 19, 2012
By: Deke Hardman

The return of Premier League football begins at White Hart Lane this Saturday lunchtime as Tottenham Hotspur host Chelsea.

It will be the first time Spurs boss Andre Villas Boas has faced Chelsea having been dismissed from the club after just nine months back in March.

The hosts currently sit fifth in the table, having not lost since the opening game of the season; their 2-0 victory against Aston Villa last time out their fourth league win in succession.

Kyle Naughton and Jake Livermore could return for the home side, who have no new injury worries ahead of the weekend, though Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul and Scott Parker remain side-lined.

There isn’t much between the sides according to the bookmakers, though William Hill have Spurs favourites at 2.7 (17/10), while you can get odds of 2.8 (9/5) for the Chelsea win. The draw is 3.4 (12/5) with Bet 365.

League leaders Chelsea go in to the match on the back of five straight victories in all competitions; the latest coming against Norwich two weeks ago.

Chelsea will be without captain John Terry, who begins his four match suspension for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, fellow countrymen Daniel Sturridge, Frank Lampard and Ryan Bertrand are set to return.

These two sides last met at Wembley back in April; Chelsea running out 5-1 winners on route to lifting the FA Cup a month later.

Tottenham’s goal that day came from Gareth Bale, who is (10.0) 9/1 with Ladbrokes to open the scoring on Saturday, and 4.33 (10/3) with 888 Sport to score at any time.

The Welshman, who received all the plaudits in his countries 2-1 victory over Scotland in the international break, has just two league goals this season, though no one in the division has registered more shots on target.

Chelsea haven’t won in the league at White Hart Lane since 2005, losing three of the six meetings since then. Should they lose this time around, they will have amassed the same amount of points as this time last season, when they were under the guidance of Villas Boas.

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